Dario Fo won the 1997 Nobel Prize for literature but I have to assume he's lost something in translation or in distance from the time he wrote his plays originally, as I've never really loved his mixes of loose comedy and political polemic - the attitudes within his plays are things I should like, looking at the nuances of the relationship between the state, capital and labour in the late 20th century through a comedic lense, but the polemic side tends to come on with all the subtlety of a brick and the comedy ain't exactly subtle either. This production isn't one that changes my mind on translated Fo - while it has some amusing moments and some decent imagery, it also stretched the dial at around 2hrs 45 minutes for somethign that should float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, it too often lumbers like an elephant instead.
If there's a reason to see this, it's to see Lachlan Abrahams as Joe, who plays this for all the ludicrousness it's worth. He's playing big but the material needs that bigness - this isn't realism and isn't served by realistic acting. Too often the performances around him feel small and timid - Abrahmas goes in hard both in the over the top comedy and the strong political polemics that the play contains, giving both genuine conviction. The performances around him don't always carry that level of weight - there's a nervousness about committing to the bit which holds this back from being as strong as it could be.
I will say there were a reasonable number of chuckles at my performance and I'm probably a minority view (and, again, that Nobel Prize) - but for me this isn't quite the end-of-year delight I was hoping for.
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